


Charge of the Pegasus

by HighlandYorkie



Series: Royal Temporal Corps [1]
Category: British Royalty RPF, Romanov's, Royal Temporal Corps, european history - Fandom
Genre: European history, Gen, Steampunk, World War One, history au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-20 22:56:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1528796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlandYorkie/pseuds/HighlandYorkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man now known simply as Mr Nikolay Romanov, the former Tsar finds his entire world turned inside out when the intervention by a surprising source halts fate in her tracks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Totally unbeta'd so I apologise for any glaring grammatical errors.

The clouds above Ipatiev House thickened and if anyone had been looking skyward they might have mistaken what was happening for the first signs of a thunderstorm as the sky crackled with flashes of lightning that in places highlighted the shadow of what looked like a giant airship, if anyone had been listening closely they might have heard the low rumble of muffled engines and the hiss of steam being vented. If those within the compound that surrounded the House of Special Purpose had been paying attention to the world around them rather than the bloody task that awaited them in the small hours they might have been aware of the sudden downdraught of metallic tasting cold air as everything fell silent as if the world had suddenly been covered in cotton wadding.  
  
It was the strangest sensation that awoke the man now known simply as Mr. Nikolay Alexandroviсh Romanov from his slumber that and the rather vigorous shaking that soon followed.

At first the former Tsar of Russia thought it was one of his daughters or even Alexei that had disturbed his sleep but the touch felt wrong, it was far too heavy and too urgent to be one of his children, a servant perhaps he thought to himself.

Finding it difficult to open his rather sleep filled eyes, Nicholas propped himself onto his elbow and peered into the darkness of the room, his beloved Alix still slept soundly beside him nuzzled against his back.

“Who is there?” he mumbled to what appeared to be an empty room.

A sudden wave of nausea struck him and his hand flew to his mouth as he retched but thankfully the feeling passed as quickly as it arrived, Nicholas shook his head to help clear it. Then as he scanned the room for intruders the area directly before him seemed to shimmer and slip out of focus, rubbing his eyes Nicholas did his best to follow this odd occurrence as it moved around their bedroom in Yekaterinburg.  
  
Another wave of nausea hit him followed this time by what sounded like someone speaking in hushed tones only their voice felt wrong for that matter everything felt wrong, the hairs on his arms itched and the air tasted of metal and damp leaves.

Nicholas swung his legs so he was sat on the edge of the bed and grasped it to steady himself as he once again he peered into the darkness of the room but there was nothing there just the occasional distortion as if he was looking at the world through frozen water, a moan came from Alix who had instinctively reached for her husband the moment his weight had shifted.

“Go back to sleep darling” he said with a smile as he gently stroked her hair.

Thankfully his Alix simply groaned in response, turned over and the gentle sound of her rather dainty snore soon filled his ears, not that Nicky would ever dare tell his darling wife that she snored.

Again right on the edge of his hearing Nicholas could have sworn he heard someone say what sounded like “Sir, can you hear me?”

More nausea hit him only this time Nicky was bent double as he succumbed, covering the floor beside the bed with the meagre meal he had eaten some hours before.

“Idiot, slap an armband on him and quick”

This time his ears did not deceive him.

Looking up Nicholas gasped in both shock and fear as two men in what appeared to be some kind of military uniform suddenly came into focus before him, one of them quickly leant forward and clicked a metal armband around an unresisting arm while he did his best not to loose what little was left in his stomach.

Straightening up has he wiped his moustache Nicholas looked from one man to the other before saying.

“Eh?”

It felt stupid to utter such a pathetic response to the situation but thinking was proving to be difficult due to how he now felt, his mind began to race as he realised that this was no normal nausea brought on by bad food but felt more akin to sea sickness.

“I do not-”

“Understand” the one on the left with corporal stripes interrupted him.

“Sorry for waking you sir but we have orders to fetch you”

“Fetch me…why?” Nicholas asked

The sergeant on the right shook his head as he looked at his companion then turning to the Tsar he gave a smile of sorts

“Been told to tell you, that Georgie sends his regards, now if you could please accompany us if you don’t mind sir”

The two men moved to grab Nicholas by the arms but he side stepped, his face full of total confusion.

“But the letter, the refusal, they denied us sanctuary and how did you gain entry to this place..it is heavily guarded”

Nicholas felt his temper rise a little, he hated feeling sick but more than that he loathed not understanding what was going on, he’d had far too much of that in the past few years with well intended advisor’s clouding his thoughts.

“Sir, your majesty… you’d do well to follow us before we have to take extreme measures”

They both reached for Nicholas again, but he shrugged them off and raised his fists ready to defend himself and his wife.

The corporal muttered under his breath

“Christ Almighty where the hell is the Captain, he’d be better at this”

Nicholas growled at the blasphemous language.  
  
A slight shimmer in the doorway signalled the approach of someone new, their footsteps were deliberate and even from where he stood Nicholas could feel the sense of authority they commanded.  Oblivious to what was happening behind them the two soldiers had paused for the briefest moment not entirely sure how they should tackle the situation that was slowly getting out of hand.  
  
“I am right here Sergeant Granger, I will handle this from now on so if you would be so good as to make sure everything is aligned and ready for our departure”  
  
Nicholas noticed the change in the men, their faces betraying the respect and awe that they obviously felt for this Captain.   
  
As he finally slipped in focus the two men saluted the figure that had joined them and then without so much as another word filed out the room leaving Nicholas and his wife quite alone with…..  
  
Nicholas wondered exactly what he had been left alone with, whereas the two soldiers looked as human as he, Nicholas wasn’t that sure that the Captain was.  A rising sense of panic struck him as he gazed into the reflective visor on the bizarre looking highly polished headgear this Captain was wearing.  
  
The man, at least he hoped it was a man,  was tall not overly so but tall enough, he was broad shouldered and carried himself in such a way that commanded acquiescence.  
  
In truth Nicholas was reminded a little of his father who also had this air of supreme authority as did Edward VII the former king of England.  
  
Suddenly Nicholas felt rather small and quite insignificant as the Captain began to address him, Nicholas noted that the Captains voice matched his physique perfectly.   
  
“Your Imperial Majesty I must apologise for my men, they are still learning the ropes as it were and are not used to dealing with royalty such as yourself”

Nicholas stood next to his bed more than a little bewildered, as he took a quick look back to his wife who was rather surprisingly still fast asleep despite all the noise, as he did so he suddenly realised that while the other two had been addressing him in English this Captain was talking to him in Russian.

“She cannot hear us nor would she be able see us” the Captain tapped the armband that both he and Nicholas wore.

“Am I dead or have I finally gone insane?”

The Captain chuckled “I must admit sir, that when I first learned of the Temporal Corps I thought someone had either drugged me or was playing some foolish prank”

Nicholas pinched the bridge of his nose

“Temporal Corps?”

“My apologies your majesty let me formally introduce myself, I am Captain Windsor of the 1st Battalion Flying Hussars, The Royal Temporal Corps”.

Nicholas sighed with relief, somehow this newcomer felt known to him.

“Your Russian is flawless Captain”

“Thank you sir”

 _“_ _25 minutes”_ intoned at slightly distorted voice that came from nowhere

The former Tsar looked around half expecting to see another phantom step out of the shadows but no one came and the Captain did not seem at all surprised by the announcement if anything by his body language he appeared to be slight perturbed by it.

“Damn it, securing the area and knocking out all the guards took longer than we had planned” he closed the gap between the two of them until all Nicholas could see was his own rather bedraggled features in the visor before continuing.

“I need you to wake your family and dress quickly now, while I organise the drones”

“Drones?” Nicholas repeated his face totally blank in utter confusion.

“There is no time to explain, you must trust me on this Nicky, if you want to see another dawn wake Sunny, fetch your children but leave everything else behind”  
  
The Captains overly familiar tone only added to the confusion and nausea that Nicholas felt.

“But what about the others, our belongings, the dogs” Nicholas’s voice began to rise as blind panic started to seize him.

“They must face their fate, however tragic”

Nicholas sat back down and frowned deeply.

“I will not move one inch until I know what is going on, since my abdication we have been moved and ushered about not knowing our fate from day to day and now you all appear and claim to be saviours sent from my dear cousin, yet you refuse to answer my questions while you stand before me wearing”

Nicholas gestured wildly

“Whatever you call all that”

“Oh the helmet, I forgot ” the Captain reached up and slowly pulled it off revealing a face that was so very familiar and yet quite different.

“Sorry about that your majesty, you get so used to wearing the protective gear while travelling you tend to forget you are wearing it”

Nicholas went to speak but words failed him, he had a thousand questions but no voice with which to ask them.

“Sir?” Captain Windsor broke the silence

“Are we going to die?” Nicholas finally managed to ask.

“ _22 minutes”_ exclaimed the dreadful artificial voice

The Captain’s face was full of worry, kneeling before Nicholas he looked up at him and spoke in a soft whisper

“Please, you must trust me” the young clean shaven Captain pleaded.

“What if they will not come?” Nicholas looked to his wife

“Orders are to fetch you and the Tsesarevich , the others are….” Captain Windsor’s voice trailed off because he didn’t want to share the rest of the instructions his Commander had given him because they were quite ruthless but orders were orders no matter how distasteful.

“If they will not come nor will I” asserted Nicholas as he reached for his wife and started to rouse her

“Your armband sir, unless you remove it your wife will not see or hear you though she would feel your presence”  
  
“The sickness?” Nicholas asked as he offered his arm to the Captain who carefully removed the armband, nodding silently.

“I will be right by the door, your majesty”

“Thank you” Nicholas muttered as the figure of the Captain blurred then vanished from view.

Nicholas stroked his wife’s hair and whispered softly “Sunny, you need to get dressed and quickly”

At first Alix remained fast asleep then tickling the back of her neck Nicholas smiled as her eyes flickered open.  
  
Alix looked up at her husband confused “Are they moving us again and at this hour?”  
  
Nicholas shrugged not sure where to start or how to even begin to explain something he had no clue about himself.  
  
“Yes and no, we are being rescued”

Alix’s hand flew to her mouth to stifle the scream of joy that threatened to burst forth.

Nicholas silenced her by whispering the following in her ear.

“Georgie has sent men to save us”

As Alix went to rise from the bed Nicholas turned to see if he could tell if the Captain was still in the room but there was no tell tale shimmer that gave away the Flying Hussars presence.

“Nicky?”

Turning back to his wife, Nicky leant across the bed and pulled her into a warm embrace.

“Dress quickly, then wake the girls while I get Alexei”

Alix nodded as she went to grab the dress she had taken off that night.

“And the servants, who will wake them”

Nicholas hurriedly dressing did not dare look at his wife as he lied

“Our rescuers will”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Nicholas and his family be rescued in time or will the mysterious Captain Windsor of the Flying Hussars fail in his mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and feedback, hope you enjoy chapter two.

As soon as Nicholas pulled on his tunic he hurried from the room fastening as he went, the memory of the countdown he had heard echoing through his thoughts.  
  
“22 minutes until what?” he wondered as he slipped into Alexei's room.  
  
Alexei was sound asleep with his ever faithful constant companion Joy, the Cocker Spaniel curled up at the side of his bed, Nicholas found it hard to bring himself to disturb his sons sleep considering the boy was still weak from his latest battle with the haemophilia that blighted his life but he had no choice.  
  
Joy who had noticed Nicholas wagged his tail expectantly and the former Emperor of all Russia found himself bending over to scratch Joy's ears.  
  
It dawned on Nicholas that this evacuation was going to be anything but straight forward, it was bad enough as it was having to leave behind what little they still owned but now he realised that they were not only having to abandon trusted servants to their fate, while the Captain had not said that directly he knew what the man was inferring but they would also have to leave behind their beloved family pets and he had no idea how to break that to his son let alone his daughters.  
  
“Alexei” Nicholas cooed softly as he gently stroked his sons cheek with his free hand.  
  
“Papa?” Alexei asked sleepily  
  
Nicholas sat next to his son and kissed his forehead as the boy woke up.  
  
“We need to dress you”  
  
“Why Papa?”  
  
Nicholas toyed with the idea of concocting some great lie but instead settled for being honest with his son and heir.  
  
“We are being rescued”  
  
Alexei's face lit up and he gave his father a tight hug which was reciprocated.  
  
“I'll start packing my things”  
  
Nicholas shook his head sorrowfully  
  
“No time just dress quickly, we will be able to buy new things once we are safe”  
  
Nicholas helped Alexei to stand and watched over his son as the young lad started to dress himself.  
  
Joy cocked his head to the side quizzically then sniffed the air and backed away from Nicholas giving a low growl.  
  
Nicholas who was already on edge startled at little at the dogs reaction then remembering how keen a dogs sense of smell is, Nicholas turned and looked around for any signs of a displacement that would give away a member of the Flying Hussars but the room was empty apart from the three of them.  
  
Despite telling Alexei not to pack his belongings the boy started to gather a few items and looked around for something to place them in.  
  
“Alexei, what are you doing?” Nicholas asked  
  
“These are Joy's favourite toys, can't leave them behind it would be upsetting for him”  
  
Nicholas looked from his son to the treasured animal companion, he went to say something but there was no way Nicholas could bring himself to tell his son that the dog had to remain, for he knew if he did Alexei would refuse to leave and that meant he would also have to stay, as would the rest of the family and he had the distinct feeling that staying was the last thing any of them wanted.  
  
“Put him on a leash, we cannot have him going off chasing something” Nicholas gestured to the pillowcase that covered Alexei's pillow as he continued.  
  
“That will do as a makeshift bag, only put in what you can carry”  
  
Alexei paused for a moment while placed the items in the pillowcase and collected his thoughts before he asked his father a rather direct question.  
  
“So who is rescuing us?”  
  
“Cousin George has sent some of his men to get us away from here, Hussars if I remember what that Captain said”  
  
Alexei nodded “But how will they, all the guards are well armed and they have seemed on edge for a while.  It's not been the same since the guards all changed as it papa?”  
  
Side stepping the last part of his sons comment, Nicholas shrugged “In truth I'm not sure how they intend to get us out of here, I am just glad that they are at least trying”  
  
“Better to die trying to reach freedom than wait for them to kill us” Alexei replied in his rather melancholic tone that Nicholas always felt uncomfortable hearing.  
  
He ruffled Alexei's hair as his son finally finished packing Joy's toys amongst a few others things and then passed him the dog leash that hung from a nail on the wall, Alexei slipped the leash on Joy who wagged excitedly while doing his best to keep his distance from Nicholas.  
  
“I'm ready father”  
  
Opening the door slowly, Nicholas peered into the gloom and gave a satisfied sigh as he noted several faint shimmers down the end of the corridor outside his own bedroom.  
  
A barely hushed muttering reached his ears as his wife appeared with their daughters all in tow clutching pillowcases that positively bulged.  
  
“I get the feeling that Captain Windsor will not like any of this” he mumbled to himself as he helped his son walk to their bedroom.  
  
Captain Windsor was stood in their bedroom looking down at the table both Nicholas and Alix used as their desk, his attention was drawn to Nicholas's personal diary that lay upon it.  The Captain's gloved fingers tracing over the cover as if he was touching something very precious.  
  
“Captain Windsor?” interrupted Nicholas .  
  
The Captain of the Flying Hussars looked up and then gestured to the former Emperor to step closer, his face betraying the concern the man was trying to conceal.  
  
“We are running out of time sir, there is less than eleven minutes before we must be ready to depart and yet I cannot help but notice that you and your family have failed to heed my request”  
  
“We are here, we have not brought anything we cannot carry”  
  
The Captain remained silent but his eyes fell upon the spaniel.  
  
Nicholas cut him off before he could even begin to say anything  
  
“Joy is my son's dog, he will not leave without him and I will not leave without my son”  
  
Captain Windsor sighed, looked upwards as if hoping for divine intervention then addressed the group before him.  
  
“You may take four items only, the rest will have to be returned to your rooms and if you cannot carry what you wish to take with you” he paused and looked troubled before continuing  
  
“Then I'm afraid it must be left behind”  
  
Alexei looked down at Joy and gulped before calling his dog and struggling to lift him, flashes of pain crossed his face and Nicholas rushed to his sons side.  
  
“Don't worry son, I have you, I have you both”  
  
Tatiana frowned “Well I'm going to get my Ortino if Alex is taking Joy”  
  
“Tati, not now” Nicholas growled suddenly aware that it was all about to get terribly out of hand.  
  
“But papa!” she yelled as she looked from her father to the Captain, her gaze going from one of sorrow to pure hate.  
  
Suddenly all four daughters and his wife began to plead with Nicholas and the Captain, neither man was prepared to waste yet more time and as the Captain slowly reached for the pistol strapped to his side Nicholas bellowed  
  
“Enough!”  
  
Everyone in the room and those within earshot in the corridor froze.  
  
“Not one more word, I will carry both Alex and Joy, Olga would you carry this bag please”  
  
While she was surprised by her fathers outburst Olga knew better than to argue and took the bag from Alexei.  
  
A band on the Captains wrist beeped several times and he shook his head “Damn it”  
  
Nicholas looked at the Captain and then gave a quick glance to his family who seemed oblivious to the noise.  
  
“More trickery?” Nicholas asked.  
  
“The drones have arrived which means we are all but out of time, there is no way I can get all of you to the departure point not without....”  
  
Whatever Captain Windsor was about to say died in his throat as he noticed that one of the daughters was missing.  
  
“Where is she, where did she go?”  
  
Everyone looked at each other, then Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna let out a scream of horror as she noticed that it was Maria who was missing.  
  
“Marie!”  
  
Captain Windsor looked at his men in utter disbelief that the young woman had slipped past them unnoticed.  
  
“What the hell are you all playing at, go find her...bring her back I don't care how but do it quickly”  
  
Suddenly very worried for his family, Nicholas approached the Captain  
  
“Promise no harm will come to my family, Marie is young, headstrong and probably afraid”  
  
The Captain gave a slight smile “Your Imperial Majesty no harm will become any of you, not while I live and breathe, that I promise you”


End file.
